Each semester the exceptional work and research that student curators undertake with the Kawsay Ukhunchay: Andean & Amazonian Indigenous Art & Cultural Artifacts Research Collection is recognized through the awarding of the Whitten Andean & Amazonian Studies Scholarship. This semester's awardees, who work under the guidance of Faculty Curator and Professor Michelle Wibbelsman, are:

• Victor Vimos (PhD Student in Latin American Cultural & Literary Studies)
• Shima Karimi (PhD Student in Latin American Cultural & Literary Studies)
• Anais Fernandez (Majors: Political Science and Spanish)
• Cameron Logar (Major: Biochemistry)
• Tamryn McDermott (PhD Student in Arts Admin., Education, & Policy)
• Kareen Darwich (Major: Health Sciences; Minor: Spanish)

Learn more about these dedicated kawsay waqaychaqkuna (those who safeguard, keep and preserve with cariño and care) here.

This Autumn 2023 semester, student curators and faculty curator Dr. Michelle Wibblesman hosted an Open House at Hagerty Hall to showcase their collection and talk about their work. Additionally, the scholarship has helped curators engage in their research. Undergraduate student Kareen Darwich, who is in her first semester of being a student curator, has been able to select the topic of her undergraduate thesis, which will combine her passion in Health Sciences and Spanish by focusing on the ways young Amazonian girls are welcomed into the next stage of their life. At the graduate level, PhD candidate Tamryn McDermott worked on the database collection's database, which continues to be an ongoing source of inspiration for others to continue thinking through issues of representation, cataloguing and accessibility. 

Please join us in congratulating our Autumn 2023 student curators and thanking them for their many contributions to Andean and Amazonian studies at Ohio State!

The Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Art and Cultural Artifacts Research Collection is permanently housed in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in Hagerty Hall 255 and supported by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Center for Latin American Studies (in part through Title VI funding from the US Department of Education), and generous private donations from Dr. Norman Whitten. To learn more about the collection please visit the AAAC website and the K'acha Willaykuna main website.